30% of used hard drives sold online contain sensitive information?

A string of recent reports spotlight the reputational risks of mishandling confidential or personal information. For example, two MIT graduate students collected 158 hard drives from eBay and other resellers and found that over 30 percent contained sensitive information, including credit card numbers. A team of University of British Columbia graduate students recently found information about defense contracts between the Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security and Northrop Grumman, a large military contractor as well as credit card numbers and family photos on hard drives purchased in Ghana.

A different team of researchers discovered information about defense contractor Lockheed Martin including a document detailing test launch procedures, blueprints of facilities and employee social security numbers on a computer purchased online.